Ian Cowie was named Consumer Affairs Journalist of the Year in the
London Press Club Awards 2012. He has been head of personal finance at
Telegraph Media Group since 2008, having been personal finance editor
since 1989. He joined the paper in 1986. He is @iancowie on Twitter.

Whether that can be sustained or proves premature remains to be seen but sterling has certainly strengthened against the dollar recently, helping British buyers to get more American property for their pounds. David Kerns, head of private clients at foreign exchange specialists Moneycorp calcuates that buying a $150,000 property in May this year would have cost British buyers £98,230 when £1 bought $1.527.

He added: “By last month, the price in pounds for the same $150,000 property had fallen to just £92,024 – or a mammoth saving of £6,206 – when the exchange rate was $1.63. Even at the current rate, British buyers save £2,100.

“The time to buy in the United States is now. Recent house price increases have been modest but consistent, and the pound’s relative strength makes US property a mouthwatering prospect.”

Against all that, house prices and desirability vary widely by location and buyers should carefully consider what they intend to do with a second property or retirement home. Savills’ representative, Albert Horrigan of RSVP Real Estate in Lakewood Ranch, Florida, explained: “Not unlike the United Kingdom, all real estate is local so, for example, the Orlando and the Sarasota markets perform differently. The Orlando market might be a decent place to buy a holiday home to let but not necessarily for a second or retirement home.

“After visiting Mickey and Minnie at Disney World for the hundredth time one might figure out why, for generations, people have moved to within 20 miles of the sea, leaving the centre of the state undeveloped. It’s hot and humid with mosquitos the size of eagles and there is little else to do but visit the parks.”

More positively, Mr Horrigan reckons house prices in Florida fell by 50pc from their peak five years ago and some properties can still be picked up for no more than they fetched 20 years ago. No wonder American property is beginning to attract interest from British buy-to-let investors.

Matt Hutchinson of the website SpareRoom.com, which now trades on both sides of the Atlantic, said: “New York’s rental market is thriving and British buy-to-let investors can capitalise on rising rents and a level of demand for rooms that shows no sign of abating.

“One double room in a typical four bedroom house in Brooklyn will rent for $1,110 per calendar month, which means the landlord could stand to make $4,440 a month for the whole property.”

To put that income in context, the average price for those properties – according to 123 listings on the website StreetEasy.com, is just under $719,000. That gives a rental yield of nearly 7.5pc before any voids or expenses are taken into account.

Further evidence that American real estate is cheap by international standards comes from HSBC, which found that British buyers’ money currently goes furthest in Orlando, USA. The global bank found that £125,000 can purchase a four-bedroom home with a large garden and a private pool in Orange County, Orlando, compared to just a studio apartment in the Swiss Alps.

The same sum would buy a three-bedroom house in Alicante on the Costa Brava, Spain, or Bodrum, Turkey; a two-bedroom apartment in Malaga, Costa del Sol, Spain, or in Pisa, Tuscany, Italy, according to HSBC.

James Yerkess, head of foreign exchange at the bank, said: “The USA offers excellent purchase power right now. There is a huge discrepancy in the size of property that UK buyers can purchase on the same budget in some of the most popular overseas locations for holiday homes. This is a combined result of house prices, foreign exchange rates and tax levels.”

That raises the important point that property taxes do not end at Dover – and are due to rise in America at the end of this year. Jonathan Miller, an associate of international estate agents Knight Frank and President of Miller Samuel Inc, said:

“We are already seeing an uptick in high-end home purchases in the US as many hedge their bets that tax cuts initiated by the prior administration on federal capital gains tax will not be extended at the end of the year. The tax is due to rise from 15pc to 20pc, so we anticipate a rush to close deals before December 31.”

While we should always be wary of estate agents urging buyers to hurry while stocks last, raising the tax rate by a third would make a dent in many homebuyers’ plans. The outcome of next month’s Presidential Election provides another imponderable hanging over the American real estate market but current prices leave plenty of scope to surprise on the upside.